Dark Secret: A Clone Wars Story
by Elspeth Fay
Summary: This story explores how Anakin's feelings for Padme pull him to the dark side of the Force.


**Dark Secret**

A Clone Wars Story 

By

"Are you Anakin Skywalker?" The speaker was a female Twi'lek, bluish/green-skinned and sporting two head tentacles bound with strips of brown leather. She stood tall, facing a window where a man stood, deep in thought. He didn't answer. "Are you Anakin Skywalker?" she repeated. He turned to face her and her nearby teenage Padawan learner, who wore the traditional long-sleeved tunic, breeches, boots, and a leather utility belt with a lightsaber clipped to it. The teenager's blonde hair was cut in the proper Padawan style, cropped except for the short ponytail in back and the single long braid down her right shoulder.

The man looked at the two Jedi for a moment before answering. "Yes, I am Anakin Skywalker. You must be Aayla, and your Padawan has to be Samara."

Aayla grinned. "You are right," she said. "I'm here to summon you to the council chamber at once."

Anakin straightened his robe before saying, "It's about time they gave me an assignment, Obi-Wan's been gone two weeks already!"

Aayla began walking in the direction of the Council Chamber, Samara close behind. "Well, if you want your assignment, you'd better hurry."

Anakin caught up with them just outside the Chamber's doors. Aayla pressed a button and the doors slid open. All three walked in, and the doors closed behind them. Masters Mace Windu and Yoda were two of the only Jedi left in the Chamber, the rest were there in hologram form. Anakin bowed, and Aayla and Samara did the same.

Mace spoke. "As you probably know by now, there has been a double assassination attempt in the Senatorial apartments. The targets were Senator Amidala from Naboo, and Bail Organa from Aldaraan." He paused. "Supreme Chancellor Palpatine has requested that Anakin Skywalker be sent toguard Senator Amidala, while we chose Aayla and her Padawan to guard Organa."

Here Yoda interrupted. "Dark is the Force now. Careful you must be on this assignment. Beware the treachery of Count Dooku." He began to chew on his gimmer stick.

Anakin bowed. "I will do my best. Master Yoda."

Mace nodded. "We have placed the two senators in adjacent suites, so all three of you might guard together."

All three bowed, knowing a cue to exit when they heard one. Once the doors closed behind them, Samara, who had been quiet up until this point, suddenly asked, "Master, is it safe to have both senators so close to each other?" Aayla smiled.

It was Anakin who answered. "No, it isn't safe, but it is easier to catch assassins that way. My speeder's this way." He led them to a launching pad where a sleek Nubian style speeder awaited. Anakin sat behind the controls while Aayla sat next to him, with Samara in the back. Anakin took off in the direction of the Senatorial suites in the heart of Coruscant.

Senator Padmé Amidala waited, her heart thumping. She had just received a hologram from Palpatine informing her that a certain Jedi would be coming to be her bodyguard in light of this new threat. She looked in the mirror for the fiftieth time that morning.

"M'lady, the Jedi have arrived," Captain Typho was tall, dark-skinned, and wore a leather patch over his missing eye. Padmé got up and walked to the door, breathing deeply to calm herself. But she could not stop the fluttering of her heart that happened when she set eyes on Anakin Skywalker, her husband. Yes, the Jedi were forbidden to fall in love, but Annie was special. His mother had known that, and had let him go so that he could become a Jedi. But more than that, he was _her_ Annie. She kept her head though, nodding to the Twi'lek Jedi and her Padawan, introducing them to her Gungan representative, also known as Jar Jar Binks. The Padawan was enchanted by the clumsy Gungan, and his funny speech.

Bail stepped in. " I am so glad you could come to do this for us. Would you like a look around our apartments to see the layout?"

_A blessing in disguise_, thought Padmé. She and Anakin went into her apartments, and when they reached the sitting area, a balcony miles above the Coruscant streets below, Padmé closed the opaque metal blast doors. Anakin swept her up with a crushing kiss, and spun her around. He pulled back, and Padmé whispered, "I've missed you so much, Annie."

Anakin smiled, "It's been long, too long, since we last saw each other." He dug in his pocket. "I have something for you, my devotion gift." He withdrew what looked like a long cord, but in reality was his Padawan braid. "It's my only possession," he explained meekly as Padmé picked it up in her delicate white fingers.  
"It's wonderful," she breathed, then lay her hand on his cheek and drew his face down for another kiss. "I have a gift for you as well," she said, going over to a wall and pressing a button. A panel slid open, and R2-D2 came out, shiny and new looking.

Anakin protested, "But Jedi aren't allowed to own—"

" Then Artoo's a friend, just like Threepio was a friend to me," Padmé interrupted. Anakin swept her up for another kiss, with Artoo whistling happily in the background.

Anakin lounged outside Padmé's suite, snoozing. Aayla woke him up. "We're guards, remember, not sleepers," she reminded him with a laugh.

Anakin sat up and looked around. "Nothing's happening," he said, grumbling as he stood up. "And I'm _tired_."

"Then meditate," said Samara, who was playing around with a ball, manipulating it with the Force. Anakin started to make a snide comment, but then realized that Samara was right. An idea struck him.

"I'm going into the Senator's suite," he said. "She trusts me, and I'll be able to hear things better in there."

Aayla shrugged. "I'll keep watch over the doors."

Anakin grinned and used the Force to very silently open the doors leading to Padmé's suite. He entered, and shut the doors behind him.   
"What is it?" came Padmé's soft voice.

Anakin turned. "I couldn't bear to be away from you," he said bluntly.

Padmé chuckled. "Let's go to the terrace," she suggested. The sturdy blast doors opened and the two of them went out into the open Coruscant air. Padmé sighed contentedly. "I know there is someone out there trying to kill me," she said softly. "But with you near, I know that I'll be okay." She leaned against Anakin's muscled shoulder, feeling the tight muscles relax. Anakin smoothed her hair, smiling.

" As if you needed my protection," he teased. "Wasn't you, Senator Padmé Amidala who used _aggressive negotiations_ in Geonosis?" Padmé laughed, but suddenly, Anakin leapt away, lightsaber flying into his grasp. "Annie—" Padmé began, but she never finished. Something _pushed_ her to the ground, and she lay there gasping as Anakin ignited his lightsaber and deflected a barrage of blaster bolts coming their way.

"Get inside!" he yelled, sending bolts back towards the speeder that had come up alongside the balcony. Inside was a beautiful woman, dressed in a bounty hunter's armor, and leveling a KYD-21 blaster at Anakin's heart. Aayla and Samara burst through, lightsabers blazing. The speeder started to zoom away, when Anakin _leapt_, enhancing his leap with the Force, to land squarely on the hatch of the speeder.

Meanwhile, Aayla ran towards the docking bay, and leapt into a sleek, Naboo-styled speeder, Samara behind her. _I hate flying,_ she thought as she started the engines. Samara closed her eyes and breathed in deeply as the speeder roared to life.

"Left, Master," she said clearly. Aayla took the speeder to a hard left and careened around the side of the building. After a minute of hard flying, Samara cried out, "There Master!" Indeed, there was Anakin, hanging on for dear life to the nose of a black and red speeder.

Aayla took her speeder underneath the dangling Jedi, and cried up to Anakin, "Drop!"

He did so, landing in the back seat. "How's Organa?" he asked, not insensibly.

"Well protected," Aayla responded, toggling the controls. Their speeder took off after the assassin.

"We're catching up!" cried Samara, pointing ahead. Indeed, the speeder was dead ahead, but the occupant was not trying to shake them off her trail.

"A trap," Anakin stated. Aayla nodded, her _lekku_ head tentacles quivering.

"Let's spring the trap," suggested Samara. "That way we find out _who_ hired this bounty hunter assassin." Anakin nodded. Aayla shook her head and followed the speeder. They wove in and out through the tall skyscraper buildings of Coruscant. Finally, the assassin's speeder came to rest in an old foundry. Aayla landed her speeder and leapt out, followed closely by Anakin and Samara.

The bounty hunter stepped slowly out of her speeder, and smiled at the three Jedi. "Welcome, Jedi, to the halls of my Master," she said in a musical voice. "She will be with you shortly."

Anakin glared at the bounty hunter in blatant hate. Aayla didn't notice, but her Padawan did. "Your Master had better come quick," he growled. "Because she has a lot of explaining to do."

"All in good time," said the bounty hunter.

"Good time is now," said a new voice, hard, and cold. A woman stepped out of the shadows, dressed in a black catsuit, with a burgundy cloak flung over her shoulders. Her tall black leather boots had seen hard usage, and clipped to a black leather belt was a lightsaber.

Anakin directed his glare at her now, and said in a clear, cold, voice, "Why are you trying to kill the Senator Amidala and her friend, the Senator Organa?" It was as blunt as one could be.

The woman smiled. "You haven't allowed me to introduce myself," she chided. " I am Taika, Lord Tyranus's apprentice."

Anakin growled, "I don't care who you are, why are you trying to kill Padmé?"

"Patience, young Jedi," she said. Then turning to her bounty hunter, she snapped, "_Rundee ja pankpa, chun pushee._" The bounty hunter nodded, and ran to get on board the ship that sat nearby.

Anakin looked hard at the Sith Lady, for that was surely what she was. "I know Huttese," he commented casually. "You won't get far."

The woman's smile widened. "You are certainly a smart one, aren't you? Never mind. I am trying to assassinate the beautiful Padmé Amidala for two reasons: one, she is a powerful politician of reason in the Senate. Without her, certain Senators will leave the failing Republic. And two: she is wanted dead by my employer and master. Is that good enough for you?"

Anakin shrugged. "Pretty pathetic reasons," he scoffed. "Are you all words, or are you any good at all?"

Aayla watched as the Sith tried to keep her calm. _He's antagonizing her,_ she realized. _He wants a fight._ The woman's lightsaber dropped into her hand and ignited. Immediately, all three Jedi had lightsabers ignited, Anakin's blue, Aayla's turquoise, and Samara's pink. The cloak fell off the woman's shoulders and she leapt towards them. The three Jedi moved in, blades flashing in arcs and circles, blazing to block every single flash of red that came their way. Taika flashed her foot to the side, catching Samara in the stomach. Samara _flew_ towards a wall, slamming into it and lying still. Anakin saw and grew angry. Samara was a child still, only twelve years old. Aayla's blade spun faster and faster, her Form III movements flowing smoothly. Anakin's more powerful Form IV technique soon had Taika gasping for air, as he moved as a virtual whirlwind, striking, parrying, blocking, slicing. Aayla found herself being rained on by blaster bolts, coming from the ship, where the bounty hunter was firing at her. Anakin yelled as Taika's blade burned his skin in a fiery line right by his right eye. Taika's eyes glittered in triumph, and she pressed her advantage.

"Growing tired, young Jedi?" she mocked. Anakin's face grew red and she could _feel_ the hate and rage burning inside him. _Pity,_ she thought._ He would make a great Sith Lord_. She taunted again, "Your precious Padmé would be ashamed, to see you being beaten by a _girl_." Anakin's rage flowed out from him, engulfing his movements, giving new life to his attacks. _He's half-Sith already_, she mused. Deep in her thoughts, she never noticed the wide circling arc that Anakin had begun, and didn't notice until a searing pain roared into life at her shoulder. Her arm, sheared off, fell to the floor. She stared at it, not believing the sight, and then fell to her knees. She looked up into his cold eyes, and then she heard the humming near her ear, and realized that she had been meant to die.

Anakin and Aayla dragged Samara's still body over to the speeder. Anakin checked her pulse, and Aayla retrieved Samara's lightsaber.

"Alive," pronounced Anakin. "She'll be fine." He lifted Samara into the speeder, and hopped in behind the controls. Aayla climbed in, and they sped off towards the Senatorial suites.

Once back in Padmé Amidala's apartments, Anakin Skywalker found Padmé alone, sitting on her bed. She wore a dark pink Senatorial garment, large and heavy. Her hair was pulled back tightly, a sign of her Senatorial commitments.

"Are you alright?" he asked, sitting down next to her and taking her hand.

She looked into his intense blue eyes and leaned in against his strong chest. She could hear his heart beating faster, and she smiled. She loved him so much, despite her being at least seven years older than he. "I'm fine," she said. "I was worried about you, not myself."

Anakin gently turned her face towards his, and looked deep into her soft brown eyes. "I will always be okay," he said. "Never worry about me." They kissed, long and emotionally, just enjoying each other's company. Anakin drew back to whisper, "I will always love you, no matter how much of a secret our love is." Padmé smiled at him, then they kissed again, like lovers who have all eternity.


End file.
